The Little Norway
by ShadowDragon30
Summary: Move over Walt Disney. The Hetalia cast has they're own way to tell this classic fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson ; . Denmark/Norway
1. Prologue

**New story! Hoorah! Gotta love that!**

**Ja, ja (for some reason, lately I keep saying "ja" instead of "yes"… I blame my obsession with Denmark and my love of Germany) I know this is based off of "The Little Mermaid" and I bet that turns a lot of people off at the concept of reading this, but let me get your facts straight:**

**1)Walt Disney isn'th the mastermind behind this fairytale**

**2) –This is based off the original "The Little Mermaid" by the Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson**

**3) –The original version had the mermaid getting her tongue cut off, and committing suicide**

**Obviously, I don't plan to entirely follow the original story. In fact, several things will be changed in order to make the storyline less choppy and hard to follow. Of course, by the time I'm through with this, it probably won't look much like the original story either, but that's to be expected.**

**Well, that's about it for this rant. Enjoy!**

**.:Prologue:.**

_For centuries, tales of mythical sea creatures have scoured the seven seas. There were the mighty Krakens, capable of destroying entire fleets with seven tentacles tied behind their backs; hippocampi, half horse/half fish beings; and sea serpents, ruthless predators of the deep. But none of these creatures are as mystical as the mermaid-or merpeople, if you want to be politically correct. Merpeople are mythical beings of unparalleled beauty, despite the setback of having the lower body of a fish._

_Fables of mermaids enchanting shipwrecked sailors have haunted the nightmares of even the most seasoned seamen… But what if I told you they were true? I kid you not. In fact, not far from here, along the coast of Denmark, a similar story unfolded ages ago. The story was that of a young merman prince, and his fascination with world of humans, and especially with a certain Danish prince he encountered._

_I will tell you now that I never tell a lie. I am only a storyteller. Whether the tales I weave are fact or fiction is for you to decide…_

**Well, that was fun to write… trust me, it gets better… once Chapter 1 is up… and once I stop talking in second person narrative…**

**As confusing as this may seem, the rest of the story will be in third person tense…**

**Think of those old holiday specials on tv, or Disney's animated movie "Aladdin". Or even the narrator at the start of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" In those, there were always narrators that told you a brief background, then dropped you into the story…**

**Lame justification, I know… just sit back, relax, and enjoy my story…**


	2. Chapter 1

**I decided to wait until I had written the first chapter before publishing, so here it all is!**

**I plan to use some made up human names for Norway and Denmark and Iceland, and any unnamed characters that come my way:**

**Denmark: Mathias Køesler (Not that surnames will be very important)**

**Norway: Nils… do I really need to give him a last name? He's a mermai-*slap*-man, for cripes' sake!**

**Iceland: Hhmmm… I do like the name Tómas…**

**Oh, and I mentioned things are gonna get switched so that the story makes sense. For instance, merpeople don't get to visit the surface world until the age of 20 (because there's no way I could pass of Norway as a 15 year old XD)**

**Eh, explanatory chapter is explanatory chapter :P… it'll get interesting once Danmark shows his lazy self… this chapter focuses on the just about everyone BUT him…**

**Anyways… voila! Enjoy the story!**

Beneath the turquoise seas lies an underwater world hidden to land-dwellers. Deep below the ocean surface, beyond any depths humans have reached, beds of sea grasses as tall as trees in a forest sprout along the sandy ocean floor. Vibrantly colored fish of all shapes and sizes dart in and out of the seaweed forests like birds through the tree branches… And in the deepest part of the ocean rests a magnificent castle unlike anything else above or below the sea. The castle was of a gothic structure, with walls of abalone shell, and windows of the finest amber. This was the palace of the Ocean King.

The Ocean King was by far the strongest-and tallest-of all the merpeople. Capable of summoning tidal waves and whirlpools, the silent blond lord was an intimidating sight to behold. Throughout history, the Ocean King has been revered and worshipped under the names of Poseidon, Neptune, and Triton; but nowadays, a more modern name is used for him: Berwald.

King Berwald wasn't the only member of the Royal family residing in the castle. Alongside him lived his... "wife", Tino-a kind-hearted merman; his younger brothers; Prince Nils-a blond merman with a peculiar hair curl- and Prince Tómas-a silver haired youth with an obsession with Puffins; and the King's adopted son, Prince Peter-an annoying, blond haired kid who was constantly pestering his uncles, while they tried desperately to ignore him.. For the most part, life beneath the sea was peaceful. The princes only bickered-usually Tómas and Nils would gang up on their adopted nephew, Peter- when neither Berwald nor Tino were watching. War was an unheard of term; only creatures as primitive as humankind partook in such bloodshed. So the princes grew up in relative harmony, amusing themselves with the stories told of the world above the ocean.

"On land," one merman explained to a captivated audience of Tómas and Peter, "there are these creatures called 'humans'. They're a strange group. Although they look like normal merpeople from the waist up, instead of tails, they have these peculiar meaty appendages they call 'legs'"

"But how do they swim?" A confused Tómas inquired.

"They don't need to, on land, they use legs to walk about, like we would swim," the merman explained. "They also ride these beasts called horses, and occasionally, these travel around in the mouths of monsters they call carriages."

Although the younger two princes were fascinated by the concept of a world above the sea, Prince Nils was far less interested. While Tómas and Peter explored reefs and spoke of life outside the sea, the young merman spent his days amongst the fair folk of the seas: selkies, nymphs, hippocampi, and other mythological sea creatures. If he had any interest in the world above the sea, Nils hid it incredibly well…

Not that it mattered. As custom amongst the merpeople, at the age of 20, the mermaids and mermen alike would journey to the surface world. One by one, each would return with their own tales of the realm of humans. Although all the youths who visited the surface were stunned by the experiences they obtained, all agreed that life was better under the sea instead of above it. The youths that had yet to make the journey all enjoyed the tales brought back by the elder merpeople and looked forward to their own 20th birthday… Well, all except Nils.

Like it or not, on the eldest prince's 20th birthday, he would be sent to visit and learn of the surface. Oh how he dreaded that day! During the weeks prior to his birthday, Tómas and Peter would often complain of how unfair it was that Nils would be the first to see the surface world and not themselves.

"It's just a pointless tradition," the eldest would explain. "Believe me, if I could get out of it, I would."

"Why? The surface world is really cool!" Peter exclaimed excitedly while Tómas nodded in agreement. "Don't you wanna see a human for yourself? I bet they're really awesome!"

Nils scoffed in reply. "Why should I care about humans? They don't interfere with us, and we don't interfere with them."

When his 20th birthday arrived, Prince Nils' fate was sealed. That day, in front of the entire underwater kingdom, Nils was presented a golden cross to pin into his hair in celebration of his coming-of-age ceremony. The gift was presented by Tino, who proceeded to caution his younger brother-in-law.

"No matter what you've heard others say, the surface world is not as magical as it sounds. Be wary of humans. As interesting as they may seem from afar, trusting in them will only lead to your downfall."

Nils nodded at Tino's warnings. Not that he had any plan to interact with them in the first place. With a few brief words of encouragement from his brothers (in Berwald's case, they were few and far between), Nils bid farewell to his family, and began his ascent towards the surface world far above…

**Let it be known that this chapter was a bitch to write… Of course, I hadn't really planned this one out… the other chapters are already planned for the most part.**

**So for those who were confused, Nils (Norway), Tómas (Iceland) and Peter (Sealand) are the three princes. Nils and Tómas are Berwald's (Sweden's) brothers. Since they aren't king, but they are members of the Royal family, they are Princes. Peter is Berwald's (adopted) brat, so he is also a Prince… sorta… Tino… I dunno if he'd be "King" or "Queen" since he's Berwald's "wife"… **

…**now I'm confused ;)**

**So I debating who to make the sea witch(/warlock) in this: Russia (because of his creepiness), England (do to his love of magic), France (again, creepiness), Prussia (*shrugs* 'cuz he's just too awesome to leave out), or Seychelles ('cuz she actually likes the ocean)**

**Feel free to voice whichever one you think would make the best witch/wizard/warlock/thing in a review 8D**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Thanks for the patience!**

**Yep, to write the last chapter was like pulling teeth without anesthetics. Not. Fun. At. All.**

**On another note: In his -not so recent- blog posts, Himaruya has been contemplating names for some of the unnamed characters. This would include our Nordic buddies:**

**Denmark: Anersen, Christensen, Anasen, Simon, Abel, Mikkel, Magnus, or Bertram**

**Norway: Lukas, Bray, Bjørn, Kjetil, Knute, and … Sigurd?**

**Iceland: Emille, Shigres, (Egril?), or Erik**

…**.pfsssh… I hope Iceland doesn't end up being Emille… Spellcheck will keep changing his name to Emilie or Emily while I try to write this.**

**Eh, I'll only go back and change the names if you guys want me too… I personally like Mathias, Nils, and Tómas (even if Tómas is a better name in Spanish than Icelandic**

Light. Blinding daylight engulfed Nils as he broke through the water's surface. The Prince blinked furiously, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the blazing white orb-the sun- looming above his head. A sharp cry startled Nils as a flock of gulls soared overhead. Directly ahead of him stretched a sandy shoreline protected by rocky shoals. Behind the beach loomed a village of stone and brick. Somewhere in the distance, a bell tolled out the hour.

Already the surface world was drastically different from life under the sea… A fact Nils was less than pleased about. Fortunately for him, he wasn't human…

…Speaking of which, there was a pair of humans standing along the shoreline. Nils frowned at the humans. From this distance, the Prince was unable to pick out any distinctive features from one human to the other, and although he had no particular interest in the two, Tómas and Peter would bother him constantly if he didn't give them an eye witness report on the strange creatures. With an impatient sigh, Nils cautiously swam towards the shelter of the rocks to get a better view.

The two human males stood facing one another, armed to fight. On the left stood a white haired man with gleaming red eyes. He was dressed in a white and black uniform covering his chest to those strange "legs" humans had. And on top of his head rested a … bird? Sure enough, a small yellow bird perched on the man's head. The man seemed completely oblivious to it. Instead he simply snickered at his opponent, a confident smirk crossing his face as he unsheathed a steel blade.

"Kesesese… You sure you wanna spar the awesome me, Mathias? Aren't you crippled enough already?" He taunted.

Nils' gaze turned to the other human. "Mathias" was tall, muscular human with wild, blonde hair that defied laws of gravity by standing up on end. Unlike his pale haired counterpart, the man was dressed in a crimson tunic with matching… whatever those things humans wore on their legs. A black cloak was worn over the outfit. For a moment, Nils couldn't understand what the white haired man had meant by "crippled", but when the blond human reached for the battle axe strapped across his back, the Prince's eyes widened in surprise at the cloth bandages that wrapped around his left arm to his chest.

Mathias laughed in response, sky blue eyes gleaming mischievously. "Ja. Hell, Gilbert, if ya think this is bad, you should see the bastard I fought!" The two suddenly burst into laughter at that, while Nils simply stared as if the two humans were insane. _'Well… they ARE humans, after all…'_

As suddenly as they had burst into laughter, the fighting began. The white haired man, Gilbert charged at Mathias, raised his sword to strike him. Mathias deftly dodged before attacking with his own axe. Nils watched with a mix of horror and fascination during the fighting. Those two idiots were going to kill themselves! And as much as Nils disliked humankind, he didn't want to stand idly and watch them die…

The fighting raged for several minutes, during which Nils found his focus drawn to the bloody sport. At first it had seemed as if Gilbert would've won; he had been faster than Mathias with his attacks while the blond couldn't move as quickly due to the large battle axe he wielded. However, the blond wasn't stupid-or at least he wasn't as stupid as Nils had assumed. The instant Gilbert charged at him to finish the duel, Mathias blocked it with his own axe. With a powerful twist of the wrist, Mathias knocked the blade from his opponent's hand.

"_Scheiße__1_!" Gilbert swore angrily, only to be drowned out by his rival's laugh. "That was a fluke! There's no way in hell that you could beat someone as awesome as me! I demand a rematch!"

Nils sighed in relief. So they weren't going to fight to the death after all… He continued to watch the pair argue back and forth, shaking his head slowly. Honestly, were all humans so immature?

"You can rematch me all ya want, Gil! I'll still kick your ass…" Mathias chuckled, swing the axe over his shoulder. His laughter trailed off as he caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye. He could've sworn he had just seen a face peering out from behind the rocks. Mathias raised an eyebrow in confusion, before taking a few steps towards the water. "Hey, Gil! Do you see anythin' over there?"

Nils eyes widened in surprise. He'd been caught. Before the white-haired man could reply, Nils drove below the surface of the water, retreating back towards his home far below the seas…

Meanwhile, Gilbert glanced off in the direction Mathias had pointed in. "Nope. Nothing!" He snickered at his friend's confusion. "Kesese, did you drink too much last night? Or has Prince Mathias finally lost what little sanity he had- OW! What the hell was that for?" The albino gingerly poked the arm that Mathias had just punched in a friendly-yet-incredibly-forceful manner.

Mathias shrugged, giving Gilbert an innocent look. "Well, if I've lost my sanity, then I can't be blamed for my actions, can I?" Not waiting for an answer, he turned and began striding back towards the village. "I'll rematch you later. Let's get back to the castle before _far__2_ realizes I'm gone…"

Upon his arrival home, Nils was immediately greeted by his brothers… and Peter. Tómas, Berwald, and Tino lingered a short distance away, but Peter instantly barreled into his uncle.

"So what was it like? Did you see any humans? Did they see you? Were they really ugly, like an octopus or barracuda? Do they really lack fins? Huh? C'mon Nils, tell me!"

Tino sighed. "Calm down, Peter. Nils has had a long day. Give him a break."

Peter reluctantly complied, swimming off to find another mermaid to occupy his time with. A faint smile crossed Prince Nils' face as he nodded toward Tino. "_Takk__3_…" Before any of his brothers could repeat Peter's questions, Nils retreated to the solace of his room. The Prince wanted nothing more than to act as if this day hadn't happened. He still disliked humans and their crude ways, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't avoid thinking of the two humans he had seen… especially the blond named Mathias.

"_Helvede__4_…"

**Well, this chapter was once again like pulling teeth… only this time with novacaine to dull the pain…**

**I shall now use my basic knowledge of German, Danish, and Google translate's knowledge of Norwegian for translations:**

**1****Scheiße (German)- Shit**

**2****far (Danish)- dad/father**

**3****takk (Norwegian. Danish spelling: tak)- thanks**

**4****helvede(Danish/Norwegian)-literally hell, but it can be loosely translated as dammit**

**No, I do know more Danish and German than just the cusses, but I only had use for the swears this time around.**

**Reviews would be ****5****vidunderlig (Danish)-wonderful**

**Oh, and before I forget, if I have any people reading my work that like roleplays and are literate writers, I've joined an AU Hetalia roleplay revolving around the Mafia. We still need Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, France, Germany, and Austria before we start. Message me if you are interested ^^**


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